Fairies and Pirates
by icefox94
Summary: Title may change. Challenge by backa usagi. Lucy thought she had enough to worry about when she is tasked with finding the rest of a new spirit's nakama, but now Aquarius is telling her that celestial spirit mages are disappearing and she might be next. Well, this'll make the Grand Magic Games interesting... Post time skip for both series
1. New Keys

icefox94: hey everyone! It's icefox here with another story! I know I shouldn't be starting another story when I already have enough ongoing stories to work on, but when you get writer's blocked, you have to do something to unstick the writer's block, right? This is my solution. Since my problem is how to write the next chapters, not what will happen, it's a good solution if it works. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Sounds infuriating, right?

This story is a little different than my usual stories, for those of you reading this because you are following me. I mean, the style is the same, I basically only have one writing style, but the story itself is slightly different than my usual plots. While browsing the crossover stories here on fanfiction, I came across a challenge to do a crossover of one piece and fairy tail where Lucy hears of these legendary keys that she has to go through hard trials to obtain. These keys turn out to be the Strawhats. It sounded interesting to me and I have read one or two stories like this already that weren't very far into the story, so I thought I'd write my own.

So, anyways, enjoy the story. I didn't really know how to introduce Lucy to the keys, so I had her find the first in a magic shop that is run by a family of OCs. They will probably only show up here for these purposes, but they are partially Italian, so there are a few Italian words mixed in with any Japanese I throw in there. The translations and the meanings of all the names will be in an authors note at the end of the chapter. I don't speak either language though, so if I get anything wrong, please tell me and I'll fix it. ^^

also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR ICEFOX! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! XD

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima and One Piece is owned by Eiichiro Oda. As much as I would like to say otherwise, the only characters I own are the family that runs the magic shop.

Chapter One: New Keys

A bell rings above the door of a shop as a blond carrying a shaking creature enters the small building.

"Hey Lucy-chan!" a young worker shouts from the back room of the Mythic Ankh magic shop as she hears the bell above the shop door chime.

"Hi Hime-chan! You have anything new?" questions 17 year old Celestial Spirit Mage Lucy Heartfilia, not bothering to ponder for the seemingly millionth time how the worker knew it was her.

"Puu-puun!" Plue says happily from his summoner's arms.

"Hi Plue!" Hime greets happily as she walks out from the backroom behind the counter holding a box of merchandise.

Torahime Dokarai is the daughter of the Mythic Ankh magic shop owners. She is a beautiful curvy young woman with wavy hip length hair, golden brown eyes, tiger ears and tail, and enviable latte skin. The slightly muscled teen says she's not a magician, but her senses are almost better than Natsu's Dragon Slayer senses and her catlike reflexes are inhumanly graceful and quick. Lucy believes her tigress looks are more than magical fashion accessories, a theory that is strengthened by the fact that the rest of her family has not-so-human features as well.

The tall tiger woman gently sets the box on the counter and turns her golden brown pools to the blond mage. "Actually, I think we do have a few new things coming in today. My brother will be here shortly with the new shipment if you wouldn't mind waiting."

"Sure." Lucy agrees with a smile. Hime flashes a sharp toothed smile at her friend and gets to work restocking the small shop's shelves.

"So, how has your mother been?" Lucy inquires curiously as she watches her friend work. Hime pauses to tie up her tiger striped hair and looks back at her friend.

"Surprisingly well. It took her hardly any time to adjust to losing her sight. Her eyes were always weak from being an albino, so I guess that prepared her for going blind."

"Does she still have the flu?"

"No, she's better now. She might get sick easily, but she's very stubborn. I think that intimidates any illnesses that are unfortunate enough to bother her." Hime jokes, tiger ears flicking at some random sound out of Lucy's hearing.

"Sounds about right. She's always so strong when I see her, it's almost unbelievable that little things like colds and whatnot actually bother her."

"I know, right? For as long as I can remember, she has always seemed very strong to me, even when she was sick." Hime agrees with another smile, carefully crawling up a bookshelf one handed to place a medium sized cauldron on top of it. Lucy bites her lip as she shifts her gaze between the feet and hand gripping the shelves as well as the slim tail wound around a nearby pole holding up a banner. She knew the intricate poles holding up the banners that pointed out the contents of the store were very sturdy, having been put up for the main purpose of holding onto them in case of accidents while working high up, but Lucy still worried that Hime would fall and hurt herself one of these days.

"Yeah... oh look, your brother's back. Looks like your parents are with him." Lucy says as she looks out the windows of the store, relaxing slightly as Hime looks as well and hops off of the bookshelf.

"Welcome back. Did we get anything good for the store?" Hime questions as the only woman of the trio holds the door open for the two men laden with boxes.

"We're back." The woman says with a kind smile, turning her head to stare at Lucy with cloudy wine red eyes, having frightful accuracy for a blind woman. "Lucy is here as well? How have you been, bambina?"

"I've been good." Lucy answers almost shyly, ducking her blushing face behind Plue.

Kumori Dokarai is the textbook definition of grace. Her every movement flows like water from the way she flicks her wavy cloud white hair out of her face to the way she walks, and her smiles could turn anyone pinned with one into a little puddle of happy goo. She is a tall curvy woman like her daughter with beautiful wavy hip length hair, large triangular black tipped white ears, a fluffy black tipped white tail, ashy tan skin slightly lighter in tone than her daughter's and dark red eyes clouded over in blindness. Like her daughter, Kumori also has claws and sharp teeth, though she was more leaner built than Hime.

"I think we got some good products this time." the taller of the males says as he places his boxes on the ground out of the way. "Hey Lucy. Are you here as a customer or a guest today?"

"Customer, if you have anything worth the few Jewels I have after rent and food." Lucy replies, frowning at the amount she has had to pay in food that month from constantly replacing what Natsu and Happy eat. The man winces in sympathy for her, having heard the complaints before.

Bomani Dokarai is the man of the Dokarai household. He is a tall muscular man with short tiger striped hair, the orange a little darker than Hime's, dark amber eyes, tiger ears and tail, and mocha colored skin opposed to Hime's latte pigments. Being so big, both height and muscle wise, people always seem to be intimidated at first, but when they take the time to get to know him, they soon discover that he is a very kind man, more of a teddy bear then anything. He doesn't become the tiger his animal appendages suggest unless someone he cares about is threatened.

"Your friends eating you out of house and home again? Do you need any food?" Bomani asks worriedly.

"Are you eating well enough? You know you are always welcome here, whether it is to stay a few nights or share supper with us." Kumori says, closing her sightless eyes in a serene smile as she opens one of the boxes on the floor.

"I don't want to impose."

"Lucy-chan, you wouldn't be imposing. Chiyuki obaa-chan is half Italian, so Kaa-chan learned to make more than enough food for one more person. We probably have more food on leftover night than you have in your entire fridge." the younger male says monotonously as he hands a medium sized box to Hime. "Hime-nee, get these entered in our inventory so we can sell them. There's a few things in there that Lucy-chan will probably want to buy."

"What's that I hear? Is that my baby brother Koori trying to order me around with that annoyingly monotonous voice of his?" Hime says as she cups one hand around her ear.

"Scusi sorella." Koori says in Italian, not at all sorry sounding. Hime rolls her eyes and does as her little brother asks.

If Hime takes mostly after her father, than Koori Dokarai takes very much after his mother and grandmother. The young man is built with the lean figure of a runner like his mother with pale skin, spiky ice white hair, ice blue eyes, and fox ears and tail. Kumori was born to an Egyptian father and a half Italian/half Japanese mother, so even though Koori looks adopted, his genes simply skipped a generation. Lucy has seen a picture of Kumori's parents before: a beautiful pale woman in a kimono with raven black hair, icy blue eyes, and white tipped fox ears and tail standing next to a handsome man with dark skin, slightly shaggy black hair, dark gold eyes and the ears and tail of a jackal.

"What do you have that I would like?" Lucy questions curiously, staring at the box Hime is currently going through.

"You will see." Kumori says mysteriously as she hands a pentacle necklace to Bomani, who scribbles on a piece of paper before hanging it up with the other jewelry.

"But I don't wanna wait..." Lucy mutters with a pout.

"Puu-puun!" Plue says comfortingly from his summoner's arms. Lucy smiles down at the shaking dog spirit in thanks, deciding to set him down in order to help the family catalog and stock their new items. Not even five minutes later, the blond mage hears her friend gasp.

"Lucy! I think I found what Koori was talking about!" Hime exclaims excitedly from the counter.

"What is it?" Lucy exclaims back, shooting up from her position on the ground next to Kumori.

"Get over here and find out." Hime says with a smile, writing something into her list of inventory. Lucy needs no more incentive to hurry over to the counter and stare at the small objects in her friend's hand in amazement.

The sea foam green objects are two metal keys, the same size as her silver and gold keys. The bow of the first key almost looks like a pirate jolly roger, using a cartoon-ish skull for the main focus. Sitting atop the skull's head is a purple cowboy hat and fanned around the entire head are four arms. Engraved on the blade of the key is the word OHARA with a simplistic picture of an open book on each side. At the bottom of the blade is a pair of wings partially unfolded. The second one is slightly different. On one side of the bow is a white ram's head and on the other side is some sort of lion flower? The face made Lucy think lion, but the pedal looking shapes made her think dandelion. On the blade of the ram side is a white border on each side, curling up and out at the top and bottom like clouds. Hanging between the bottom curls is an anchor. On the dande-lion's side of the blade is white and red stripes for a border, curling up and out at the top, but staying strait at the bottom. Between the two inner red lines is a paw shaped anchor.

"Are they Celestial Spirit keys? I've never seen green ones like these before! I've only seen silver and gold ones!" Lucy exclaims once again, eyes glued to the units.

"They are special keys, similar to your Golden Zodiac Keys, known as the Green Pirate Keys. Given the rarity, they're almost priceless, but since you are practically family now, we will give them to you for the low price of one dinner at our place." Bomani explains with a grin at his offer. Lucy turns her wide eyes to the smiling tiger.

"You're giving them to me?! I couldn't! I have to give you something for such rare keys!" Lucy denies. Kumori shakes her head at this.

"We are not giving them to you, bambina. We are trading them for spending quality time with you. To us, that is more than enough, considering how busy you always are. If you want the keys, you will come home with us after work, eat dinner and dessert with us and socialize before being sent home with the keys and leftovers. I know it is asking a lot of you, but I am positive the price is not that unreasonable."

"Besides, you are always helping us with the store without asking for anything in return, so you've racked up quite a bit of credit." Bomani continues.

"And you can't forget the trials." Koori adds in.

"Trials?" Lucy parrots, turning curious brown eyes to the pale fox. "What kind of trials."

"It is dependent on the spirit. They are trials you need to go through in order to gain contracts with them." Kumori informs. "For a bard, it may be as simple as singing a song or as difficult as writing your own music and performing it with all of your heart and soul. For a combat oriented spirit, it may be physical challenges similar to an obstacle course or showing your resolve to succeed while being placed in a tough situation."

"Either way you put it, you have already paid plenty for the keys and you will have to pay more in the future, so just take them in return for a meal with us. You deserve it." Hime finalizes with a fond smile.

Lucy stares back and forth between the four family members she has come to know since moving to Magnolia and feels her eyes begin to swell with happy tears. Before becoming a part of Fairy Tail, Lucy would have never guessed that there were such nice people in the world. She still has trouble believing it when situations like this come up.

"Th-thank you! I will join you for dinner tonight!"

_(Later that night)_

"I knew it." Lucy says with a sigh as her apartment building comes into view and she sees the light on and her window open.

"Be careful Lucy-chan! It'll be completely dark soon!" One of the ferrymen calls from his boat, getting ready to go home as the blue, purple, and dark pink sunset becomes more and more of the glittering indigo blanket of the night sky.

"Thank you! I am!" Lucy calls back while balancing effortlessly on the ledge between sidewalk and river. She walks up to her building and climbs the stairs to her apartment. Pulling out her keys as she steps up to the landing, Lucy unlocks her door and is unsurprised to see Natsu in the kitchen area raiding the fridge with Happy hovering next to him, one of Lucy's newly bought salmon in his mouth.

_'Well, at least they're consistent. I just wish they would help me with food expenses every now and then, or at least bring their own food over if they're going to be eating here all the time. They know how hard it is for me to make rent every month.'_

"Lushy! You're bahk!" Happy shouts around a mouthful of fish. 

"Don't talk with your mouth full, stupid cat!" Lucy scolds as Natsu's head perks up and smiles widely at his friend.

"Lucy! Where have you been? Me and Happy were starting to get worried!" Natsu exclaims as he hops over and hugs Lucy tightly. Lucy blushes at the close contact and glares at the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"Yeah, you looked real worried half buried in my fridge." Lucy drawls as Natsu lets go of her and allows her to move away from the curtain she used to block off her kitchen. The busty blond pushes one of her two containers of leftovers from the Dokarai family dinner into her friend's hands on her way to put the other into the fridge before heading back into the main room.

"We were going to look for you if you weren't back by the time we were done eating." Natsu explains as he looks at the plastic container curiously. "What's this?"

"You know that magic shop near here called Mythic Ankh?" Lucy questions as she sits on her couch.

"Yeah." Natsu answers as he joins her. "It's a small shop owned by a nice family that looks like animals, right?"

"Yes. I befriended them when I first moved here. They invited me over to dinner tonight and that's some of the leftovers. Tonight the main dish was Rotini pasta, but there's also some bread sticks and stuff in there."

"Man, this stuff smells amazing!" Natsu exclaims, mouth watering at the noodle, sausage, tomato, onion, garlic, black olive, and basil mixture all held together by tons of stringy clumps of mozzerella cheese. "You handed this to me to eat, right?!"

"Of course I did." Lucy says, only sounding slightly offended. "And of course it smells amazing. Kumori was taught by her mother how to cook and _her_ mother's father was a professional Italian chef."

"Awesome! Happy! Bring me a fork!"

"Aye sir! Here you go Natsu!"

While her uninvited but still welcomed guests chow down on Italian leftovers and raw salmon, Lucy pulls out her new keys and studies them. Natsu sees the keys and slows his insane pace.

"You got new keys too?"

"Yeah. They were in a new shipment of supplies for the store. They actually gave them to me. They knew I wouldn't be able to afford them, so they traded them for having me come over for dinner."

"Sounds like you robbed them." Natsu says bluntly as he shovels more pasta into his mouth.

"How rude! They're the ones that suggested the trade! I tried to give them Jewels for them, but they refused!" Lucy yells angrily.

"Alright! I'm sorry! So, what spirits are they?"

"I don't know, I haven't made contracts with them yet. I just know that they're special keys like my gold Zodiac keys." Lucy explains, tracing over the wings and engravings on the blade of one of them with her fingers.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Make the contracts!" Natsu demands, too curious to wait to see the spirits in battle.

"Yeah! Make the contracts!" Happy shouts. Lucy stares at the two and shakes her head.

"Honestly! Last time I made a contract when you were around you said it was boring!"

"You live too much in the past Luce!" Natsu says confidently.

"Yeah! Live in the present Lucy!" Happy adds.

"Alright! Fine! I'll make the contracts!" Lucy shouts.

"Yay!" Natsu and Happy shout at the same time. Lucy sighs and stands up before walking to the center of the room. She closes her eyes in concentration and holds the one sided key out in front of her.

"I'm the one who connects the paths to the Celestial Spirit world. Thou shalt answer my call and traverse the gate. Open!" Lucy chants as a gold magic circle appears beneath her, slashing the green key horizontally across her chest, then vertically in front of her. The motions award her the sound of a bell like most summonings, only this one sounds closer to a bell that would be heard aboard a ship. A golden magic circle similar to the first appears on the floor in front of Lucy, with purple, blue, and white lights shooting up from it. The lights form into a ball of light, which morphs into a humanoid shape. When the light fades, the trio can see Lucy's new summon spirit.

The spirit is an older woman, maybe around Aquarius's age, with black waist length hair, deep ocean blue eyes, and light skin almost dark enough to call tan. She is wearing a purple short sleeved jacket half way zipped with a white rose design on the left side and a pink floral sari skirt tied at the right side, showing off her curvy body that would make an hourglass jealous. Perched atop her head is a pair of sunglasses, a light purple bag is hanging from her left shoulder, and protecting her feet are pink high heels. She would almost look like a normal human if it weren't for the large brown and black wings protruding from her shoulder blades.

"Hello ma'am. My name is Lucy Heartfilia and I would like to form a contract with you." Lucy says confidently with a friendly smile on her face. The woman smiles as well, reminding her of Kumori, and nods her head.

"Hello Miss Summoner. My name is Nico Robin. I will form a contract with you if you promise to look for the other 8 keys like mine. They are my friends and I would like to reunite with them." The summon spirit, now known as Robin, barters.

"Of course I'll look for them! I already have one." Lucy agrees excitedly, holding up the other key. Robin nods at this, her surprise at seeing the key briefly shown only by the flash of emotion in her eyes, and looks at the young mage expectantly. "Now that you have excepted the contract, would you mind telling me a little about yourself? I'm afraid I don't have any knowledge of the Green Pirate Keys."

"Is that what they are being called? How amusing." Robin muses to herself with a small giggle. Lucy tilts her head curiously at this, but if the older woman notices her confusion, she makes no indication of it. "I am a Black Barn Owl summon spirit, but my main talents lie with my Devil Fruit powers. My powers lie with being able to grow extra limbs on any surface within my sight." Here, she demonstrates this by growing more arms from her elbows and fanning them out, even growing a few arms at Lucy's and Natsu's shoulder's to pat them on the head, making them jump and making Natsu shout and fall over.

"W-what is a Devil Fruit?" Lucy asks after she calms herself down from the surprise and helps a complaining Natsu up from the floor. Robin smiles in amusement at the couple's reaction before replying.

"A Devil Fruit is something from the world I come from. When one eats a Devil Fruit, they gain special powers, but they lose the ability to swim and become weak and paralyzed when submerged in water. I ate the Hana Hana no Mi, so I can grow limbs practically wherever I wish, but I lost the ability to swim in the process."

"Why would you trade your ability to swim for magic? As cool as magic is, not being able to swim is a pretty big handicap." Natsu interrogates as he crosses his arms over his muscled chest.

"Because not being able to stand any mode of transportation is so much better than not being able to swim." Lucy counters with a roll of her eyes. While Natsu yells indignantly at Lucy for her comment, she ignores him and turns her curious brown eyes to the amused blues of the winged spirit. "So, what did you mean by "the world I came from"? Are you not from the Celestial Spirit world?"

"No, I am from a much different world." Robin says, eyes darkening slightly at the change of topic. "My friends and I were separated by a mysterious force. We thought we knew what that person's powers did, but we were so ignorant... Darkness engulfed us and when I next awoke, I was in the Celestial Spirit World and my friends were no where to be seen. Again. I met up with the Celestial Spirit King and he told me he had met with some of my friends and gave us all the same offer to become celestial spirits until we were reunited and able to go back to our own world."

"I guess that makes sense." Lucy agrees with a thoughtful nod. "Humans are not supposed to be allowed in the Celestial Spirit World, so he probably did that to keep with the laws. It would also help you and your friends out because Celestial Spirit keys travel a lot. There aren't many Celestial Spirit Mages anymore though, so that will in turn make finding the keys slightly harder."

"Why would less spirit mages make finding the other keys harder? Wouldn't that make it easier since there are less people looking for them?" Natsu questions, having gotten over his anger already. Robin looks towards the fire dragon slayer and shakes her head.

"Less people using the keys means less chances of finding the other people in possession of my friends' keys. Since there are less Celestial Spirit Mages, there are less people using gate keys. If someone possesses a Celestial Spirit key and doesn't use it, how are we going to hear about the unit?"

"There's also the possibility of someone finding one and thinking it is a pretty necklace or something." Lucy adds as she holds up her key ring to show everyone. "Aquarius, Lyra, Aries, these are all really pretty stylized keys that can't open any doors. If someone who wasn't familiar with this sort of magic were to see them, they would probably believe they were just jewelry or key chains."

"They are really pretty." Happy admits as Lucy attaches her key ring back to her belt and frowns as he sees a pondering look on her face. "Lucy? What's wrong?"

"I think I might have a way of making it easier to find them though." Lucy says, almost to herself. Robin, Natsu, and Happy look at her curiously as she stares back with hesitant determination.

"How are you going to make it easier Lucy?" Happy questions.

"I can use the Grand Magic Games."

End Chapter One

Author's Notes

You guys should know what -chan, -san, -nee-chan, -obaa-chan, etc. mean, so I'll just translate things you are less likely to know.

Torahime: Tora means tiger and Hime means princess, so put together, her name is tiger princess. I know, real subtle, but I like it.

Dokarai: an Egyptian/Arabic Surname that means Happy.

Bambina: an Italian word for "little girl". It's basically the same thing as adding -chan to the end of a girl's name

Kumori: means "Cloudy" in Japanese

Bomani: "Warrior" in Egyptian/Arabic

Koori: Japanese for "Ice"

Scusi: "I'm sorry" in Italian

Sorella: "Big sister" in Italian.

Chiyuki: Japanese. The most popular translation seems to be "Little snow" but I prefer the translation from the manga Millennium Snow "One thousand years of snow" with "chi" being "one thousand" instead of "little"

Also, for those of you who aren't familiar with my stories yet, at the end of each chapter, I make a list of music I listened to while writing or typing out the story, and if I didn't listen to music for whatever reason, I will make a list of songs I like that I would recommend in general to anyone, trying my best not to copy songs mentioned in previous chapters. Here is this chapter's list.

Songs

Håll Om Mig (Hold Me Now) by Nanne Grӧnvall (also a great Princess Tutu AMV)

Fuego by Bond

I Don't Care, I Ship It by notliterally (also a great AMV called Ship Happens by Vivifx)

Witch Activity by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND (Witch Craft Works)

Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind composed by John Rutter

In the Palace~ Agitato by Yoshihisa Hirano (Hunter x Hunter 2011)

Earth Song by Frank Tichelli (not Micheal Jackson. Completely different song! .)

Servante du Feu (Servant of Fire) by Michiru Oshima (Sora no Woto/Sound of the Sky)

Less Than Three by Becky

Invoke Magic by Yasuhara Takenashi (Fairy Tail)

What's My Age Again? By blink182

Already Over by Red

The Rage Beat by Kotani Kenya (Gravitation)

We Go by Hiroshi Kitadani (One Piece)


	2. The Real Title is Too Long to Fit Here

icefox: First off, I need to talk about the update schedule, so please read carefully. Anyone who has read any of my ongoing stories can tell you that I am a slow writer. I get writer's block, I procrastinate, I have more important things to do revolving around life, I get distracted and forget I was writing, I can't concentrate, all sort's of stuff. What it all boils down to is it usually takes me quite a while to update any given story. I try to be quick, but more times than not, I take much more time than people would like.

Having said this, here is what I'm going to do. As I sit here writing this note, I have almost 5 chapters written. What I will do is post one chapter every month around the 15th (because that is when the first chapter came out), and I will do this until I catch up with what I currently have written. With the somewhat large gap between updates, I'm hoping to get more chapters finished before you guys have to go more than a month for an update. This will also give me time to fix chapters on the occasions that someone points out a mistake or voices a concern that I had never thought of. Does that sound good to you guys? ^^

Responses to guest reviews, because I try to reply to all of my reviews! Aren't I nice?

Guest: Could get good waiting for more chapter befor I start but keep it up looks grate

me: thanks. I hope I live up to your expectations. By the way, chapter should be plural, befor should be before, grate should be great, and your sentence needs punctuation. :)

memarvo: Wow! This is epic!

me: Lol, thanks for the review and the enthusiasm. It means a lot to know that people enjoy my work. memarvo: What happens next? What's the next key?

me: hm, those are good questions. What indeed? ^^

memarvo: UPDATE PLEASE!

me: here you go. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail and Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece. I do own the Dokarai family, but that's it. I don't even own the base plot. That was backa usagi's fault. There. You can't sue me now. :D

Chapter Two: Out of Character Aquarius and A Strangely Peaceful Breakfast

After more discussions about Lucy's half thought out plan, more information about each other, and making the contract official, the owl spirit goes back to the spirit world, leaving Lucy anxious to get the next contract sorted out.

"I'm the one who connects the paths to the Celestial Spirit world. Thou shalt answer my call and traverse the gate. Open!"

This time, the ship bell is accompanied by only white and red lights shooting out of the gold magic circle, forming into another humanoid shape. This one is much different than the mature winged woman before. The figure is actually quite small, not so much that it looks frail, but it definitely does not have the busty, child bearing hips look that Lucy and Robin share. It is a woman, maybe in her early 20s, with curly white shoulder length hair, pale skin almost as white as her hair, white blue eyes with rectangular pupils, and ram horns curling back and around to almost frame her slender face. Her dress is... different. It is a floor length halter top dress with long triangular sleeves unattached to the dress, a design that wouldn't be so strange if the dress didn't look like it was supposed to be a ship instead. Everything from the pirate flag on her stomach, the horizontal black lines on the brown skirt that looks like boards, the nets, the swirling white designs on the torso, and the sleeves that look like sails to the blue wave designs crashing against the bottom of the skirt, the cannon sitting directly between her average sized chest, and the anchor hanging from the left side of her dress all scream pirate ship.

"Hello. My name is Merry. It's short for the Going Merry. I am the spirit of a caravel ship that was sailed by a wonderful pirate crew that took me on amazing adventures. What is your name?" the ram/ship spirit greets politely with a small bow. Lucy and her friends bow back, Lucy out of courtesy and Natsu and Happy because they didn't know what else to do, a little floored by the spirit's strange appearance.

"My name is Lucy Heartfilia. I am a Celestial Spirit mage that would like to make a contract with you. I have already made a contract with your friend Nico Robin." Lucy greets back. At the name Robin, Merry's eyes light up and her happy smile could light up a ballroom.

"You've met Robin?! It's been so long since I've seen her and the rest of the Strawhats! Is she okay? She seemed to be pretty upset the last time I saw her! Well, there was a good reason for most of it, but I don't think the sadness was entirely that incident..."

"I don't really know what you're talking about, but she seemed fine to me. I made a Celestial Spirit contract with her in return for looking for the other keys that summon her friends. Other than you and her, there are eight other Green Pirate Keys. Would you be willing to make a contract with me?" Lucy says, tilting her head curiously at the last question. This makes the personified ship blink in confusion.

"Contract? Celestial Spirit? What are you talking about?"

Apparently, the small spirit has been in a remote part of the spirit world and hasn't heard about things that should be common knowledge for summon spirits. After Lucy fills her in and even shows her her keys, Merry nods contemplatively, staring at the key she came out of thoughtfully.

"Okay, I think I understand how this will work. I will agree to a contract with you if you promise me the same thing you promised Robin." Merry agrees after a moment of silence.

"Of course! I already promised Robin I would do my best to find the rest of her friends, I won't go back on that now! To a Celestial Spirit mage, keeping their word is important. We would never break a promise, even if it meant dying!" Lucy assures with a determined smile. Merry responds in kind.

"Good. Then please call on me whenever you need a ride anywhere. I'm afraid the only services I can offer you is transportation by sea, and maybe lake or river if they're big enough for a caravel. Because my help is so limited, there is no need to limit the amount of time or days you can summon me."

"I will do that. Thank you Merry." Lucy thanks, writing the information down in her Celestial Spirit notebook. Merry nods and bows before disappearing in a flash of light.

"So, what do you think?" Lucy questions as she turns to look at her slightly bored friends.

"I don't know." Natsu says as he scratches his head. "The winged woman seems cool, but I don't know if I like the ram chick."

"You only say that because she's a ship." Happy says with a giggle. At the word 'ship', Natsu's face goes green and his face bloats as if he is holding back vomit.

"Don't get sick just from hearing the word!" Lucy shouts in frustration, then sighs. "Come on, can't you think of Merry as something other than transportation? Technically, Happy is transportation because he picks you up and flies around with you, but you don't get sick because he's your friend. Can't you see Merry as the same?"

"I don't know Merry. I know Happy." Natsu says, as if that fact should have been obvious.

"Yeah, we just met Merry." Happy adds. Lucy groans loudly in frustration and turns her back on the mage and exceed.

"Whatever! I'm taking a bath and then going to bed! You two better be gone by the time I get out!"

"Hai, hai." Natsu and Happy say unenthusiastically. Lucy shakes her head at this response and grabs a change of clothes before walking into her bathroom, closing and locking the door on her way in. She walks over to the tub and starts the water, setting her clothes down in a basket nearby, and leans against the cobbled stone as she hangs her head.

"Honestly, you'd think I just took away their favorite toy or something." Lucy mumbles to herself.

"Maybe you did." says a voice in front of her. Lucy jumps in surprise, falling backwards onto her rear end in the process, and whips her head up to look at Aquarius calmly sitting in her bath tub. The mermaid watches the water ripple as she curls her fins towards herself and turns to her owner to give her a smirk. "I wouldn't put it past you."

"Aquarius! What are you doing here?!" Lucy shouts in surprise from her position on the floor. "You're not going to wash me up in a mini tsunami or anything, are you?"

"I wasn't planning on it." Aquarius replies as she floats above the water to look at Lucy's different bath herbs, grabbing a few of them and setting them next to the bath to add to the water later. "Why? Do you want me to?"

"No, I'm just surprised that you're here without me summoning you, is all." Lucy amends, not liking the look in her spirit's oceanic pools from her last question. Aquarius eyes her owner for a minute, than get's back to her browsing.

"I'll admit that I didn't come here just to chat. You better be grateful that I'm here at all. This is taking up my vital Scorpio time, after all." As she says this, Aquarius adjusts the water slightly before floating over to grab something on the floor hidden from Lucy by the bath tub between them. "Now strip and sit down."

"That's okay, I can wash-"

"I said strip and sit down, ya deaf bitch." Aquarius growls with a murderous glare. Lucy jumps in fright at the look and nods rapidly.

"Aye sir!"

When Aquarius turns back around to grab something else, Lucy does as the spirit deman- I mean, asked-, putting her clothes in the dirty clothes basket and her keys on the counter, before sitting on her bamboo stool in the wash area. Aquarius deposits her handful behind Lucy in order to turn the tub water off once the tub is in danger of overflowing.

"So, I noticed the two new spirits you formed contracts with." Aquarius says casually as she controls a small portion of the tub water to lightly splash Lucy.

"That was quick. I just made the first contract less than half an hour ago." Lucy says, relaxing slightly when Aquarius begins to massage some amazing smelling shampoo into her hair that she knows she doesn't own. "What shampoo are you using? That doesn't smell like my Aussie shampoo."

"I brought it with me from the spirit world since I knew you were getting ready to take a bath. It works great on thick hair like yours and will not only make it soft and shiny, but give it the nutrients to help it grow and keep it healthier for much longer than your human shampoo. The scents are honestly too many to name them all off, but the most prominent are vanilla, cinnamon, and caramel." Aquarius explains, taking her time massaging it into the blond curls.

"Sounds like a spice cake." Lucy says hesitantly as she tries to put the ingredients together. Aquarius smiles briefly at the look and nods.

"Yeah, basically. Only this one is more like one of those fancy double layer cakes with cream cheese frosting and caramel filling. Anyways, when you make a contract with a Celestial Spirit, their section of the Spirit World becomes connected with that of the rest of your spirits. If I want to see the rest of the spirits under contracts with you, I just need to leave my house from my back door and that will lead me to a plaza where all of our houses lead. I was spending time with Scorpio in the plaza when I saw the houses of your new spirits become connected."

"Hm. That's interesting."

"I just wanted to warn you to be careful with them. They aren't real summon spirits, so they may be able to bend the rules in ways that we can't, which could be dangerous for you."

"Says the one that washes her opponent and summoner in a tidal wave before abandoning her summoner to possible death."

At this remark, Aquarius smacks Lucy on the side of her head, making her cry out in surprise and pain.

"You were never in any real danger whenever I did things like that, so shut up. If you were facing an opponent that had intended to kill you, I wouldn't have done those things."

"Angel meant to kill me." Lucy points out. Aquarius halts her massaging at the name, then slowly starts it up again when the shock wears off.

"You still had Leo, who is a stronger fighter than me, and I wouldn't have been able to help you anyways. You've seen me around Scorpio. I wouldn't have been able to bring myself to hurt him..."

Lucy tilts her head back to see Aquarius staring at the ground with a barely hidden expression of sadness on her face and sighs. The celestial spirit mage knows that the mermaid means well and is only so harsh on her to make her a stronger person, so she would have never abandoned Lucy to someone that meant her real harm if she didn't think that Lucy could figure something else out. Leaving the way she did during that fight must have really bothered the blue haired woman more than she let on.

"It's fine, it's in the past. I didn't die or receive any permanent damage thanks to Loki and Hibiki, and Natsu reminded me of the spell he saw me use during the fight after we got back home, so if you can help me learn it as well as help with general training, then I'll forgive you." Lucy says, giving her strongest spirit a friendly smile. Aquarius blinks in surprise at this, then smiles back.

"Fine, I'll help you when you start training, but I shouldn't be the only one you call on for help. Capricorn, for a start, would be of much more help then I. He helped Layla train all the time, and therefore would know the best methods for training. I believe I also heard that the owl woman is a scholar and might have heard of some good training regimens that we haven't."

"Sounds good. My team will be leaving for training in a day or two, Earthland time." Lucy informs, completely relaxed now as she tilts her head back a little more and closes her eyes so her spirit can wash the shampoo out of her hair. When Aquarius begins to massage conditioner into her hair and the scent doesn't change, Lucy opens her eyes and stares in confusion at the mermaid floating above her. "Why are you doing all of this for me Aquarius?"

"What, you don't like it when I'm nice to you?" Aquarius questions with an arch of a perfectly shaped cerulean eyebrow, then shrugs. "Just think of it as an early birthday present."

"My birthday isn't for another 3 months."

"I know." Aquarius answers with an annoyed glare before frowning in frustrated worry. "I thought I should give it to you early. It's easy to lose track of Earthland time while in the Spirit World."

"But that's never stopped you from giving me presents on time before." Lucy points out. Despite the way the mermaid treats her and talks towards her, Lucy never takes it to heart because she knows that deep, _deep_ down Aquarius cares for her as much as Lucy cares for her. One of the big things that shows Lucy this is the thoughtful gifts that Aquarius roughly gives her every year, waking her up with the scent of breakfast and a splash of water in her face. It used to just be gifts that she would give to Lucy's mother to give to her, but after Layla's death and Jude's negligence towards her, Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, and Lyra made it their mission to give Lucy memorable birthdays every year. Ignoring the rough treatment and teases, she almost acts like a mom or an older sister to Lucy sometimes, an observation that becomes solidified on her birthdays.

"Yeah, well, I just have a feeling that you might not have the time to see me on your birthday this year." Aquarius explains. Lucy's eyes widen at this.

"Oh yeah, the Grand Magic Games! The first day of the tournament is on my birthday!" Lucy exclaims, turning her head to look at Aquarius now that she is letting the conditioner sit in favor of washing Lucy's back with spice cake body wash. "How did you hear about that? Fairy Tail only heard about it a few days ago and I never said why I was going to start training."

"The Grand Magic Games have been held for the past seven years now and there has been at least one Celestial Spirit mage in the tournament each year, so it's not all that surprising that we know about it, which is the main reason I'm here." At this confession, Aquarius floats around to face Lucy with a serious expression. "During the games, actually, from now on, if you come across a dangerous opponent, call whoever you need to protect yourself quickly, even if it strains at the contracts. Don't slack off and guess while summoning your weaker spirits and going up as you usually do. If your keys get taken from you, get them back somehow and me or Leo will summon our self to your side. Do you understand me?"

"I understand what you are saying, but I don't understand why you are saying it. One of the biggest things about Celestial Spirit mages is that they never break a promise. A contract is a promise to call upon a spirit for aid only within the restrictions of the contract. If I-"

"Except for the two new spirits, all of us have talked and agreed to this, and I will talk to the newbies when I get back." Aquarius interrupts. "Like I said, there has been Celestial Spirit mages in the tournament every year since it's creation seven years ago. In seven years, Celestial Spirit mages have been disappearing to the point where it's almost a rarity to bump into one. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? As a Celestial Spirit mage, you're in danger."

"If I'm in so much danger, than why aren't you telling me not to go?" Lucy questions quietly, shakily washing her front while avoiding her spirit's eyes. Aquarius grabs her chin and pulls her face back to look at her again.

"It's not the tournament, though I think it was the catalyst for it." Aquarius explains softly, aware that her owner is beginning to panic but needs to continue anyways. "Since the beginning of the first Grand Magic Games, Celestial Spirit mages have been disappearing. Even if you didn't go to the games, you would still be in danger. You will probably be safer with your guild, so since they are all going to the tournament, you would be safer there."

"Okay."

Aquarius looks at her shaken summoner and rests her hands on her soapy shoulders, causing Lucy to look up at her with wide brown eyes.

"Don't worry. Your guild will never let anyone hurt you, and if anyone does get past them, us spirits will protect you. We all love you and will do everything in our power to keep you safe."

Lucy stares at Aquarius in amazement. Knowing the blue haired mermaid cared and actually hearing her say it were two different things and, given the spirit's personality, Lucy never thought she would hear it. The tears that had built up over her fear spill over as she nods.

"I know. I love you too."

Aquarius smiles a genuinely happy smile, then floats back behind Lucy to splash some more water on her and gradually washes the conditioner out of her hair. Once she is clean, Aquarius pulls her hair up into a messy bun and adds the herbs she grabbed earlier to the bath water and pushes the blond mage towards the now normally filled bath. Lucy smiles at the mermaid in gratitude and curls up in the tub to relax as Aquarius puts her herbs, new shampoo, conditioner, and body wash away.

"Thanks for everything Aquarius." Lucy thanks as the mermaid sets out Lucy's pajamas and clean towel. Aquarius raises an eyebrow at this.

"What? No 'Why aren't you always this nice to me?' or 'Why are you always so mean to me when I summon you?'?" the blue haired woman questions as she floats around to organize Lucy's bathroom.

"No." Lucy says with a head shake, watching her spirit in her relaxed position in the tub with half mast eyes, getting sleepy from the calming heat of the bath water and the slight herbal scent coming from the steam. "I know you treat me that way for a reason because of the times you are nice to me."

"How do you know that I'm not mean to you because you are a pretty young girl that threatens my relationship with Scorpio?"

"Because I figure that you know me and would know that I would never hurt you by trying to take your loved one from you. Besides, someone taking Scorpio from you is impossible. Anyone can tell that he loves you too much to leave you for anyone else."

"Of course he wouldn't." Aquarius says with a disgusted snort at the thought, then floats back over to the tub after setting a bottle of lotion and a bottle of body spray onto the counter next to Lucy's keys. "All right, I'll be going back now. The lotion and body spray are the same brand and scent as the shampoo, conditioner, and body wash I gave you. Lyra wanted me to give them to you in case she wouldn't be able to see you on your birthday as well."

"Okay. Could you tell Lyra I said thank you?"

"Sure."

"Thanks again Aquarius."

"Don't mention it. Ever." Aquarius says back with a threatening look, before melting it into a teasing smirk. "By the way, I completely approve."

"Of what?" Lucy questions with a confused look.

"Of your relationship with the Fire Dragon Slayer." Aquarius answers, making Lucy grow bright red and sputter in embarrassment, and disappears in a small flash of gold light before Lucy can shout her denial. Before the golden glow of the key fades, Aquarius's voice echoes in the bathroom with one more threat- warning, one more warning. "_Oh, and Lucy. Make sure to tell someone in your guild about the threat you are now facing. Preferably Natsu, because I just love seeing him get overprotective over you. I feel like I have to worry less about you when he does. Anyways, if you don't tell anyone by noon tomorrow, I will make you. Good night._"

When the light from Aquarius's gate key finally fades along with her lingering voice, Lucy splashes her face with water and glares at her ring of keys in embarrassment.

"What is she talking about? Why would I ever go out with Natsu?" Lucy grumbles to herself as she hops out of the tub and dries herself off and begins to rub her new lotion into her skin. "He's loud, obnoxious, destructive, dumb, strong... kind... thoughtful..."

She pauses as she grabs her underwear, staring unseeingly at the ground as she stands in the middle of her bathroom with her towel draped over her head and shoulders. Did she really have feelings for Natsu? She did get all worked up when Natsu asked her to meet him at the park when he wanted Virgo's help digging up treasure. And he is quite handso-

"No! Enough of that Lucy!" the blond says to herself as she lightly smacks her cheeks before staring forlornly down at the clothes clutched in her hands. "It's not like he would like me back, even if I did have feelings for him. He only sees me as a nakama."

With that depressing thought, Lucy gets dressed for bed, pulls her damp hair into two dutch braids to sleep in, and walks out of the bathroom and into the main room of her apartment, not at all surprised that Natsu and Happy ignored her in favor of sleeping in her bed.

"Jeez, why don't they ever listen to me?" she sighs and shakes her head at the pair with her hands on her hips. Lucy stares at them a minute more, Natsu sprawled out on the bed with his arms flung out above his head snoring away and only half covered with the blankets while Happy curled up next to the pillow on the side closest to the window, before allowing a smile to grace her features. "I guess I can let it slide this once."

With that, she climbs into bed next to Natsu, because she isn't sleeping on the couch or floor in her own apartment when there is plenty of room on her bed, and pulls the blankets up properly over them. Since there is only one pillow, she cautiously lays her head on Natsu's shoulder, blushing darkly as he unconsciously wraps his left arm around her shoulders. Mentally preparing for a possibly long night, Lucy rolls over on her side facing Natsu and buries her red face in his shoulder, closing her eyes soon after in an attempt to fall asleep.

_(The next morning)_

Natsu sighs as he slowly wakes up, burying his nose in a familiar yet strange smell he can't seem to get enough of. It was a sweet, yet spicy scent with a hint of some sort of wood mixed in. Underneath all of this is a unique scent he has come to love over all others, the scent of his precious nakama.

At the realization of exactly what the last scent is, Natsu cautiously cracks an eye open and looks down at the warm source of the amazing smell curled up in his arms.

Lucy is laying on her right side facing Natsu with her arms bent towards her and hands curled under her chin. Her braided blond hair messy from sleep is shining in a gold light from the morning sun streaming in from the window behind him. Her upper torso is clothed in a thin strapped blue top that dipped low in the front and slightly rode up her stomach while sleeping, revealing tan skin on her arms, chest, and stomach glowing golden brown in the sunlight. Her face is calm and relaxed, mouth smiling slightly as she nuzzles her face into Natsu's chest for a minute before relaxing her head back on his shoulder. The gentle heat from the caressing sun and the warmth of the blanket pooled around their hips had intensified the incredible scent enough to wake him up before his normally early rising friend to view this rare sight undisturbed.

'_Has she always been this beautiful?_' Natsu wonders to himself, not even fully realizing exactly what it is he just thought until he paused to repeat himself. While puzzling over his uncharacteristic thoughts, his blond nakama begins to slowly wake up.

Lucy isn't bombarded with scents the way Natsu was when he awoke, but she is greeted with the calming smell of campfire smoke and the indescribably unique scent of Natsu before her sleep blurred gaze focuses on her adorably thoughtful friend. The pondering look fades from Natsu's face as he notices Lucy's hazy chestnut eyes and smiles.

"Mornin' Luce. You sleep okay last night?"

"Mmm, yeah. I slept okay." Lucy says past a yawn as she slowly sits up and stretches. Halfway through her stretch, she pauses and looks back down at the rose haired dragon slayer still laying in her bed with confusion adorning his features at her sudden glance.

"You okay, Lucy?"

"Yes!" Lucy squeaks suddenly, face heating up at the fact that she voluntarily slept in the same bed as her friend last night. Sure, she has slept with Natsu before, but it was always when Natsu climbed into her bed while she was sleeping, not the other way around! Before Natsu can question why her face suddenly went red, Lucy shoots out of the bed and heads towards the curtained doorway to the kitchen area, grabbing a robe to cover her spaghetti strap shirt and pants clad body along the way. "I'm going to make tea!"

Natsu blinks at the abrupt departure from bed and shakes his head at the blond mage.

"You're such a weirdo."

"I'm not weird." Lucy says automatically at the irritating nickname as she fills a kettle with water. Once it's full, she set's it in her fire burning stove and tosses a few logs in the wood burning area in order to start a fire. As she stuffs the pile with old newspapers she begins to talk to Natsu through the open doorway. "Is Happy still asleep?"

"No." Natsu answers back absentmindedly. A quick glance towards the open curtain reveals glimpses of Natsu helpfully making the bed for her. "He's not even here. I'm guessing he went to go see Carla while we were still sleeping."

"So it's just the two of us for breakfast?" Lucy clarifies as she strikes a match against the match box in her hands and uses it to light the stove fire.

"Yeah. I don't smell any of our nakama around, so it'll probably just be the two of us."

"Okay. How about bacon and eggs for breakfast?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Okay. It'll take some time, so feel free to use my bathroom to wash up."

"Kay. Thanks."

"No problem."

As soon as she hears the door to her bathroom click shut, Lucy walks into the main room of her apartment and closes the window and curtains in order to get dressed for the day. When she walks over to her dresser to pick out an outfit, a bundle of cloth sitting on the top of it catches her eyes. Laying on top of the bundle is a note written in elegant cursive.

_'Hime-sama. Us spirits overheard Aquarius telling Scorpio that your birthday is coming up. Since it is during the Grand Magic Games, I have decided to give you your gift early. If I don't see you between now and the first of July, Happy Birthday. -Virgo'_

The bundle of cloth under the note is a blue and gold outfit from the celestial spirit world. The halter top is a cerulean blue with vertical gold lines spaced evenly around the shirt and running along the bottom edge with a large heart design on the front. The bottom of the top was cut in a way that there were four triangles of fabric resting over the front and back of her hips, giving the bottom of the shirt an almost jagged look. The matching skirt seems to be a simple mid thigh pleated skirt of a slightly darker shade, but when Lucy looks at it closer, the ultramarine fabric shimmers a silvery violet, almost like the stars in the night sky. The thigh high socks that came with the outfit were the same as the skirt, with moon and star designs lining the top of them. For her hair is two options of either silvery violet hair ties with twinkling stars attached to and hanging from them, or a single ultramarine blue ribbon with glittering silver violet celestial designs on it. For the neck, there was a silver violet bow that is kept tied together by a sturdy gold key pin with a cerulean gem fixed to the bow attached to the middle of the knot. For the wrists is a pair of ultramarine blue bands with silver violet moon and star designs matching the ones on the socks and lined on each side in gold. There were even shoes included: cerulean blue ballerina rocking horse shoes* with gold straps and soles as well as a gold band lining the top and silvery violet celestial designs gracing the blue leather material.

"It's so beautiful and... almost looks like the outfit she dressed me in after my fight with Angel. The one that matched Natsu's outfit..." Here she trails off and looks towards her ring of keys resting on her bedside table. "Thanks Virgo. I love my new outfit."

Virgo's key briefly glows gold in response and Lucy can feel a sense of contentment emanating from it during the brief candle like light. Turning back to the outfit, Lucy smiles and gets dressed, deciding to tie her hair up in the side pony tail she use to favor with her hair being so curly, carefully using a hair pick to tame to messy areas and pull her hair into a neat pony tail without losing the curls obtained from her hair drying while braided. Once she is dressed, she reopens her curtains and windows before going back into the kitchen to quiet the now whistling kettle. She pours herself a cup of the steaming beverage and sips it as she transfers the tea into a tea pot and adds this, another cup, and a pitcher of orange juice to a tray, then sets the tray on the table in the main room. With this done, the former heiress sashays back into the kitchen to start breakfast.

Ten or so minutes later, Lucy is finishing up the eggs when Natsu walks out of the bathroom.

"Smells great Lucy." Natsu says as he wanders into the kitchen.

"Thanks. The eggs are almost done. While I'm finishing them up, could you set the table in the main room and set the cooked food there?" Lucy requests as she flips the eggs.

"Sure." Natsu obliges.

He grabs the needed dishes in one hand and a plate full of toast in the other. On his way out of the kitchen, Lucy pulls the last of the buttered toast out of the stove and deftly places them on the plate without having to stop him, causing Natsu to grin at her now graceful movements that used to be so clumsy when she first moved in. They've been through this routine so often, Lucy has figured out how to move around the kitchen, and him, without bumping into anything in the process. Natsu has never had issues, given his inhuman reflexes, but Lucy would constantly bump into things, or him, and send food flying or dishes breaking. Lately, her reflexes have gotten much better, and it shows with everything she does, whether it's dancing, running from an enemy, or fighting back.

As he sets the table and places the plate of toast in the middle, after emptying the tray of drinks onto the table, he glances back at Lucy in her new outfit as she literally rocks onto the front of her feet to pull another plate out of her cupboard for the cooked eggs.

"Did Virgo visit while I was washing up?"

"No. Why?" Lucy questions as she uses her spatula to guide the eggs from the skillet onto the plate. Natsu joins her in the kitchen once again to grab the plate of bacon and newly offered plate of eggs while Lucy closes off the vents to suffocate the fire in her stove and brings the jam for the toast to the table.

"Your clothes look like the clothes she gave us after your fight with Angel."

"Oh, yeah." Lucy says, glancing down at her clothes while they set the food down and sit at the table to eat. "I don't know when she came here, but she left them as an early birthday present."

"Your birthday is coming up?"

"It's July 1, during the first day of the Grand Magic Games. Virgo wanted to make sure I got my present and she didn't know if she would be able to see me or not. Time flows differently in the spirit world, so for all we know, she could have just given me my present a day early in her time."

"We'll have to remember to celebrate after the events are over! I'll tell everyone when we get to the guild!" Natsu says excitedly. Lucy sweat drops and waves her newly empty hands at the overly excitable rose haired mage.

"Please don't make a big deal of it! It's not that important!" Lucy protests, a brief flash of her child self staring sadly at a destroyed onigiri going through her mind.

"One of my nakama is going to be one year older in a few months. Celebrating the day they were created is a big deal!" Natsu argues, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

Lucy is rendered speechless for a moment at this. She knew Natsu got excited about little things, but to get so worked up over a birthday? It was... really sweet.

"Okay, I give up." Lucy says quietly with a small smile on her face. "Come on, let's eat before the food get's cold."

The two settle down at the table and put their hands together, saying 'itadakimasu', before piling their plates up with food. Seeing how... enthusiastic, Natsu can get when he eats, there isn't much talking, the only sounds being the clinking of silverware on dishes and the fire mage's noisy eating. While her friend is focused on stuffing his face, Lucy fill her stomach at a more calm pace, stopping to take a sip of orange juice every now and then to help wash her food down. It is at one of these moments when her eyes catch her ring of celestial spirit units. Aquarius's gate key is glowing in an almost menacing light, reminding Lucy of her demand the night before as the temperamental mermaid went back home.

_'if you don't tell anyone by noon tomorrow, I will make you.'_

Aquarius's words ring in her head, making her shiver slightly at the threatening tone her spirit had adopted. Lucy knows her spirit will make good on her threat, so she better tell someone, but who? Master Makarov seems like the most logical, and he would know what to do about the situation, but Aquarius seemed to want her to tell Natsu for some reason...

'_Ugh, I better listen to Aquarius. She's scary when she gets angry._' Lucy thinks as a slight expression of dread creeps onto her face at the thought, causing Natsu to halt his eating to give her a look of concern. 

"Hey, you okay Luce? You look like you're worried about something." Natsu questions, pulling Lucy out of her mini nightmare.

"Hm? Oh, no, I'm fine. It's just..." Here she trails off, not knowing how to broach the subject. Natsu, however, takes the hesitance a little differently.

"You know you can tell me anything, right Lucy?" Natsu reaffirms. Lucy blinks at him in surprise, then hurriedly put her cup down to wave her hands in front of her face in denial.

"No, it's not like that Natsu! I do want to tell you, I just wasn't sure how to say it..."

"Just say what's bothering you. It can't be that hard."

"It's not that simple."

"Yes it is."

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"Alright, fine." Lucy concedes quickly. She has witnessed enough of Natsu's arguments to know that when he is adamant about something, he won't give up until he wins. If she had continued with the little argument, they would have been here all day. "Aquarius came to visit me last night while I was bathing."

"Yeah? And?"

"And, she had a few concerns."

"Like what?"

"Well." Lucy answers with a huff, annoyed at the fire dragon slayer for his impatience. "First, she told me to be careful of the new spirits. They're not real summon spirits, so she warned me to try not to rely on them in emergencies in case they were able to bend the rules in a way that could put me in danger."

"Don't all summon spirits come with that risk?"

"In a way, yes. Depending on the spirit and how they feel about their owner, they could bend the rules while being summoned in a way that could seriously injure or kill their summoner, but if that were to happen, they would be banished from the Celestial Spirit World. That is equivalent to a death sentence. No matter how strong the spirit, they will eventually die from being here too long. If Loki hadn't gone back to the spirit world when he did, he would have faded away and died.

"These pirates though, since they aren't celestial spirits, Earthland wouldn't harm them at all. It would be like being kicked out of Magnolia. You would be upset you couldn't go back home, but you could still live your life somewhere else."

"I think I get it." Natsu says slowly as he balances on the two back legs of his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest while he looks at the ceiling thoughtfully. "So, you're worried that your new spirits will betray you when you summon them?"

"Not really. I feel like I'm a pretty good judge of character, and they didn't send me any vibes that made me think I couldn't trust them. What about you?"

"Maybe that ram girl..."

"You're just saying that because she's a form of transport."

"Ugh..."

"Don't get sick just thinking about it! Seriously." Lucy sighs and shakes her head as Natsu pours himself some tea to settle his suddenly queasy stomach. "Anyways, I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about what we talked about next."

"What's that?" Natsu says between careful gulps of steaming tea.

"It's about the Grand Magic Games..."

"What about them?"

"Well, she said that since the first Grand Magic Games, Celestial Spirit Mages have been disappearing. I think she's worried I might be next."

End Chapter 2

Author's Note...

* Rocking Horse Shoes are a style and brand of shoe, mostly worn by various types of lolitas (or, at least, that's most of where I've seen them) the ballerina style is basically just a ballet slipper styled shoe with long straps or ribbons that wrap around the legs a ton of times and can still reach your knees. The sole of the shoe is kinda platform in a way, sloping up in the front and having a thin rectangle cut out of the back directly under the heel, allowing you to easily rock back and forth on your feet like a rocking horse (thus the name of the shoes) here's a link to what they look like. Take out the spaces.

worldse ndshop.c o.u k/wp-cont ent/uplo ads/201 2/03/Rock ing-Ho rse-Balle

Songs

Explosive by Bond

Hikari no Senritsu by Kalafina (Sound of the Sky)

Words by Skylar Grey

Sally's Song cover by Amy Lee (lead singer of Evanescence) (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

It's My Life by Bon Jovi

Credens Justitiam (Believing in Justice) by Yuki Kajiura (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Welcome to Night Vale (podcast by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor)


	3. Overreactions and the GMG Team

icefox: hello readers. Welcome to chapter 3 of my crossover challenge fic. :)

first off, I would just like to say, SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE! I got busy with holiday stuff, so I had to put off editing this longer than I wanted to. There.

Now that that's out of the way, I'd just like to say in advance, I realize that the teams were picked after the training trips, but when I wrote the chapter, I didn't remember that. I'm writing canon events by how I remember things and if I scramble a few events here and there, it's okay, because I'm not trying to follow the canon story exactly. That would be boring. If there is any mistakes that you notice that should be dealt with, please let me know in a mature, non-flaming manner, and I will do what I can to fix it. Okay? Okay.

I decided to bold the names of the guest reviewers I respond to here, so they can see the responses and not ask me questions I already answered. I'm not saying this to be mean, I just don't really like to repeat myself is all. I put these author's notes here for a reason, after all. :D

**Guest**: :please don't tell me this story is a nalu story -_-'

me: well, it's mostly hinted at with a few instances of people playing matchmaker, but I didn't plan on making it a full out nalu story. I might write the pairing in as a side story to the main though, since I got the challenger's permission as long as there isn't anything explicit (which I wouldn't write anyways. I blush just thinking about it), but not likely. if I did write it in, it would be a few moments of blushing or hugs or something, not entire chapters about dates or anything. Is there a problem with that?

**kid (Guest)**: kid:update maybe? I like the story

me: Thank you for the review, I'm glad you like the story so far. Next time you have questions though, please check the author's notes first. I said in my author's note in chapter 2 that I would update this story once a month (around the 15th) until I catch up with what I have already written and then upload chapters as I finish them. I'll admit, most of the time I don't have anything important to say in the author's notes, but there are times I will say something readers like yourself should pay attention to, so it's a good idea to at least skim over them. :)

**memarvo (Guest)**: memarvo:YAY! But now I have to wait for the next update. Meh, as long as this story continues I can't complain (because I was reading a different fanfiction called Coby's Magical Misadventures and they discontinued[?] it.)

me: I hate it when that happens. I tend to search for complete stories more often than ongoing because of that problem. ^^()

Disclaimer: One Piece is owned by Eiichiro Oda, Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima, and the original plot idea is owned by backa usagi. I own nothing... well, I own the magic shop, but that's about it.

Chapter 3 – Overreactions and the Grand Magic Games Team

"You're in danger?!" Natsu shouts, emphasizing his exclamation by slamming his tea cup onto the table. Lucy winces at this, feeling extremely grateful that the empty teacup came out of the rough treatment unscathed.

"Hey, watch it! If you break my stuff, you have to buy me new ones!"

"Don't change the subject! What's this about Celestial Spirit Mages going missing?!"

"Aquarius said that the catalyst seemed to be the first Grand Magic Games 7 years ago. Since its creation, Celestial Spirit Mages have been disappearing to the point where we're almost extinct. This is what Robin and I were talking about when we said finding her nakama might be difficult. I thought that there was just less interest to practice summoning magic, but apparently someone has been going around either kidnapping them or killing them. Aquarius was so worried about me that she told me to summon anyone I need to survive an encounter with a dangerous enemy, even if it strains at the contracts. You know how I am about keeping promises. I'm such a stickler about that because of my contracts. For Aquarius to say something like that is huge."

"If it's so huge, then why are we just sitting here?! Let's go!" Natsu exclaims as he abruptly stands, grabbing Lucy's wrist to bring her up with him.

"Go where?! And let go! You're hurting me!" Lucy says as she tugs at her wrist while Natsu pulls her towards the window.

"We're going to the guild to tell Master what you just told me." Natsu answers as he loosens his hold on her wrist, but doesn't let go as he continues to pull her away from the table.

"Don't you think you're overreacting? At least let me clean up and lock the house up before you drag me off somewhere." Lucy sighs at her stubborn friend and grabs her belt with her gate keys and whip as she is pulled past her night stand.

"But, what if-" Natsu starts as he pauses in order to argue, but Lucy let's her belt fall down to the crook of her arm in order to cover his mouth.

"Do you really think I'm so powerless I can't defend myself?" Lucy questions with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, no, but-" Natsu tries again, but shushes without the hand over his mouth when Lucy waves him quiet.

"And if I am powerless against those that would do me harm, do you really think that you are so weak as to let them hurt me?"

"Of course not!" Natsu shouts with a glare at the accusation.

"Then what's the harm in staying here long enough for me to clean up and lock up the apartment?" Lucy reasons. Natsu opens his mouth to object, but thinks better of it before he even forms his first syllable.

"Alright, fine. But be quick about it." Natsu allows with a grumble as he lets go of her wrist. Lucy smiles in thanks and hurries back to the table, making quick work of the mess left over from breakfast. Once the dishes are in the sink and the leftovers are in the fridge, Lucy closes and locks her windows before beckoning Natsu out of the door so she can lock that as well.

The second her keys are safely back on her belt, which is now fastened securely around her hips, Natsu picks Lucy up bridal style and races off towards the guild, ignoring his blond friends shouts about putting her down and walking to the guild at a normal pace.

"Lucy-chan, be care-"

"Good mor- oh my."

"What's the rush?!"

All of this and more briefly floats into Lucy's ears as Natsu races towards the guild. The celestial spirit mage awkwardly smiles and waves at the kind boatmen always looking out for her and Torahime and Kumori sweeping the entrance of the Mythic Ankh as they rush past them, attempting to assure them that everything is fine and Natsu is overreacting as she passes the two pairs in their mad dash to the guild building.

Natsu bursts inside the boisterous guild hall and runs to the small master sitting on the counter of the bar, skidding to a stop just as he is about to run into the stools sitting in front of it.

"Master! We need your help! It's important! Lucy is-"

"Dang it Natsu, let go!" Lucy interrupts with an annoyed scream of her own.

"But Lucy-"

"No buts. You've been overreacting about the whole issue all morning and it's giving me a headache, now let me down before I make you let me down."

"Luce-" Natsu tries as he tightens his hold on his nakama. Lucy feels his hold tighten and glares.

"You know what, fine. We'll do it the hard way. Just don't blame me later. Fleuve d'étoiles!"

Not expecting such an attack by his nakama, Natsu can do nothing but stand in shock as a river of stars wraps around his wrists, pulls his arms tight against his body, and wraps around his mouth to prevent his continued shouting. Once Natsu is still, Lucy releases her hold on his shoulders as she sets her feet carefully on the ground, having not gotten tied up with Natsu thanks to the whip's versatility, and calmly flattens her clothes out and smooths her hair back into place with one hand while holding Fleuve d'étoiles firmly in her other hand.

The guild hall, which had been a buzz with bets over what Natsu was getting so worked up over, fell silent at how easily their blond spirit mage incapacitated the fire mage. While some of her closer nakama knew of her prowess with a whip and thought nothing of the scene, most of the mages had forgotten that she could do anything other than summon spirits.

"So, now that you've calmed down." Lucy starts, ignoring the glare sent her way from her rose haired friend, "I want you to think about how the last few weeks have gone. Did you ever feel like I was in such a dangerous situation to warrant this reaction?"

Natsu's glare lessons as he slowly shakes his head.

"If I were in a dangerous situation, do you doubt you would be able to protect me?"

Another, more energetic, shake of the head from the fire user as slight annoyance from the repeated question of earlier leaks into his expression.

"Then calm down. Screaming at Master in front of the entire guild won't help the situation any. Okay?"

At Natsu's hesitant nod in response, Lucy calls Fleuve d'étoiles back and secures it to her belt once more as she turns to the patiently waiting guild master.

"Master, Natsu and I would like to speak to you in private about something important."

"Of course, child. Come with me. We'll talk in my office."

As the three walk towards said room, their nakama send them worried looks.

"Is everything okay, Lu-chan?" Levy questions.

"You know you can tell us anything if something is wrong, right?" Erza assures.

"Hey, did you do something to Bunny Girl, Salamander?!" Gajeel shouts.

"Hell no!" Natsu shouts back indignantly, and would have started a fight with the red eyed man if it weren't for his busty blond nakama dragging him along with her.

"It's okay everyone." Lucy assures with a wave of her unoccupied hand. "I'll tell you all later, I promise. I just need to talk to Master first."

"Okay, as long as you're not hurt or anything Lucy-san." Wendy says with a small smile. Lucy smiles back at the young girl before disappearing into Makarov's office.

"So, Lucy, Natsu. What would you like to talk to me about?" Makarov questions as he closes the door and walks over to his desk.

Lucy glances over at Natsu and, seeing the glum and slightly embarrassed look he is trying to hide behind his scarf, decides she can most likely talk without interruptions.

"Last night, Aquarius came to see me while I was filling my tub for a bath." Lucy admits, much to Makarov's surprise. He knows much about the celestial mermaid from stories of Lucy's battles, things he's put together from talking with Loki, and even from experience fighting against her before Layla Heartfilia came into possession of her key.

"Aquarius summoned herself to Earthland?" Makarov questions, making sure he heard correctly.

"Yes." Lucy confirms with a nod.

"How strange..." the small wizard saint mutters, for it was quite strange. The water bearer is known for being selfish and hating being summoned since it takes her away from her boyfriend Scorpio. For Aquarius to willingly separate from her lover, even for a few minutes, is mind blowing. "What did she want?"

"Apparently, the Grand Magic Games is big in the Celestial Spirit World as well, because Aquarius knew it was coming up and came to warn me to be careful."

"Be careful? Of what?"

"I'm sure you've heard of the Celestial Spirit Mages that have been going missing for the past seven years? That started with the Grand Magic Games. She doesn't know how or why they've been disappearing, but it's serious enough for us spirit mages to be rarities now. Aquarius told me that she talked to my other spirits and they agreed that if I were ever in a dangerous situation, to call on whoever I needed to help me, even if I had to bend the rules of my contracts to do so. She also said that the mages have been disappearing all year around, so I'm in the same amount of danger whether I go to crocus with everyone or stay here." Lucy is starting to feel like a broken record from explaining the situation and going over it in her head, but it has to be explained. She's a tad vain and prideful, but she knows when she is in a serious situation and needs help. That, and no one likes being punished by Aquarius.

"That is serious." Makarov agrees. "Since you are telling me instead of dealing with it yourself as you are prone to doing, I'm assuming Aquarius also told you to tell someone?"

"Yeah. She wanted to make sure at least one other person knew in order to help keep a look out. Since I will be going to the Grand Magic Games in a few months, whether I'm part of the team or just going to watch, she wanted to make sure I would be safe."

"Would you be upset if the rest of the guild knew the situation?" the small wizard saint questions. Lucy opens her mouth to respond, then hesitates.

"I'm not sure, actually. I kind of want to tell them, but at the same time, I don't want to worry them. Do you think they should know?"

"Well, in my personal experience, there is no such thing as too many allies. In a situation such as this, with an unknown threat moving about, the more trusted allies you have, the better. Fairy Tail has proved time and time again that we are a close knit family that would die for any of our own. I think you can and should trust them with the full truth of the situation." Makarov advices. Lucy's milk chocolate eyes sparkle in pride as she remembers the Phantom Lord incident when everyone stood beside her, despite all of the terrible things that happened to the guild because her father wanted her back home. The former heiress smiles cheerfully at her guild master and grandfather figure and nods her agreement. Natsu smiles softly at his friends expression as well, but turns more serious when his own eyes travel to land on Makarov.

"What are we going to do, Master?" the rose haired fire user questions.

"The same thing we always do, just more observantly." Makarov answers, then turns back to Lucy. "Once we leave my office, I'll be announcing a few things to the guild. While I'm doing that, would you like me to tell everyone, or would you like to tell them yourself?"

"You can tell them." Lucy says, her expression turning nervous at how she would imagine her friends reacting to the news. Makarov nods at the blond mage with a reassuring look before jumping down from his desk. He starts walking towards the door when he sees Lucy's key ring. Of the glittering metal that is poking out of the sides of the protective leather cover are 2 keys of seafoam stained metal the light magic user has never seen before. "Oh, Lucy, did you get more spirit units?"

"Hm? Oh, yes! I got them from the Mythic Ankh yesterday! The one with wings is an owl summon named Nico Robin and the two sided ship key is for a caravel ship summon named Going Merry." Lucy answers as she expertly removes the keys from the key ring to show her guild master. "One of the conditions of the contract was to look for the other green keys so that they can meet up with their friends, so I was hoping to look for more at the tournament."

"Hm... I've known many Celestial Spirit Mages in my time and seen even more spirit units and I've never seen keys like these ones." Makarov murmurs as he examines them closely.

"Bomani Dokarai, one of the owners of the Mythic Ankh, said that they were called the Green Pirate Keys."

"Bomani did? Did he say anything else about them?"

"No, but Kumori and Koori said something about completing trials in order to obtain them or use them to their fullest capacity. There is also a few things Robin and Aquarius said that I'm curious about. Robin mentioned that she was originally from another world and she appeared in the Spirit World one day, separated from her nakama. This is when the Spirit King turned her into a Celestial Spirit. Aquarius warned me to be careful when I summon them since they aren't real spirits and may be able to bend the rules in ways real spirits can't."

"That is troubling." Makarov agrees, handing the keys back to Lucy. "Did this Robin tell you why the Spirit King turned her into a spirit?"

"She said that he turned all of her friends into spirits since humans aren't allowed in the Celestial Spirit World. They were scattered when they appeared here, so he thought that they would be able to find each other more quickly if they became spirits. Before she went back to the spirit world, Robin told me that the spirit king had offered them to stay in his palace until the rest were found, but they all wanted to go looking for their nakama themselves, so they kept missing each other."

"Hm. I'll keep an eye out for more of these green keys and I'll let you know if I find any." Makarov says as he leads the young mages out of his office.

"Thanks Master." Lucy says gratefully as she follow him out with Natsu.

"Of course, child." Makarov answers back, before walking over to the stage and jumping over into the center of it. The majority of the guild quiets without prompting as they see their small master hop on stage and direct the floating microphone down to his level.

"Everyone, I have a few things to say, so listen up." Makarov says. The few who hadn't noticed their diminutive master get on stage turn towards him and quiet as well. Natsu and Lucy sit at the regular Team Natsu table as Makarov begins to speak.

"First, I would like to welcome two additions to Lucy's team of Celestial Spirits: Nico Robin and Going Merry. Their keys are from a set of sea green keys Lucy is trying to round up in order to fulfill part of the contracts to summon them. If you see any sea green keys that look like they may be Celestial Spirit units, please tell Lucy where you saw them." Makarov starts. The guild shouts their agreement, with the bulk of them loudly requesting Lucy to summon them so they can meet them in person. At Lucy's waving hands and mumbles of 'later', Makarov continues.

"Secondly, is some serious news involving the Grand Magic Games. Since its inception 7 years ago, Celestial Spirit Mages have been disappearing rapidly. Today, they are a rarity. I'm sure you all realize what this means for any existing spirit mages today."

"Celestial Spirit Mages have been disappearing? As in...?" Levy questions, trailing off as she stares at her best friend, scared of what that would mean for their resident spirit mage.

"Yes, it most likely means that someone is either killing or kidnapping the Celestial Spirit Mages. For what purpose, we do not know. All we know is that Lucy is in danger and the Grand Magic Games was the catalyst. It doesn't seem to be the Games in general though, because spirit mages have been disappearing all year round, not just around the time of the Games. Knowing this, keep an eye on anyone suspicious, especially suspicious persons that look like they are focused on Lucy."

"HAI!" The guild shouts in unison, raising their hands in the sign Laxus made up as a child, now a sign of the guild showing that they will always watch out for each other.

"Don't worry Lucy, we'll always protect you." Erza assures.

"Protecting your nakama is a man!" Elfman exclaims loudly.

"Not all of us are men!" Evergreen shouts as she smacks Elfman's overly muscled chest, who is unaffected by the abuse, before adjusting her glasses. "I do agree with you though. People who leave their nakama to handle great danger on their own are despicable."

"Jii-jii, do you want any of us to look into these disappearances?" Laxus questions, the scent of ozone filling the guild hall as small sparks dance across his body every few minutes. After his idiotic actions during the last Harvest Festival and his exile from the guild, he realized how much everyone in Fairy Tail means to him and is pissed that there is some unknown force out there threatening one of his siblings in every sense except blood.

"I will have some of you look into it, and I will talk to those people in private later. For now, I have one last announcement. I have decided on the team that will be taking part in the Grand Magic Games."

"Yeah!" The guild shouts ecstatically, excited to hear whose hard work paid off.

"The team will be as follows: Natsu Dragneel."

"I'm getting fired up." Natsu says with an excited grin as he punches his fists together and creates a brief flash of flames.

"Gray Fullbuster."

"Hm." Gray smirks and hums contentedly. Juvia half hides her blushing face behind a clenched fist at the sexy smirk on her love's face at the announcement.

"Erza Scarlet."

"I will do my best." Erza promises humbly with a small smile.

"Wendy Marvel."

"Ah! R-really? I'll try my hardest to be useful!" Wendy exclaims with an adorable blush as she clutches her skirt nervously. Lucy can't help but shake her head at the timid sky dragon slayer sitting across from her. Not only does she have strong offensive magic, she also has incredible support and healing magic, making her more than worthy of being on the tournament team.

_'Since Gildarts won't be available to compete in the Grand Magic Games, the last team member will probably be Laxus or Mira, with the one that isn't chosen acting as the reserve member.'_ Lucy guesses as she stares at the tiny wizard saint under the stage lights.

"And last but not least, Lucy Heartfilia."

"E-eh? Me?" Lucy questions in confusion as the guild hall erupts into cheers for the announced members of Team Grand Magic Games. There were many better picks for the last team member than her, so why did the master say her name?

"Are you sure about that, Master?" Mirajane questions as she walks over from the bar. "Lucy is in danger right now, so wouldn't putting her in the tournament put her in even more danger?"

"She is in just as much danger competing in the tournament as she is watching from the sidelines." Master Makarov says gravely as he steps away from the floating speaker and towards the edge of the stage. He hops down from the stage and joins the white haired model as she sets a few drinks down on a nearby table and makes her way back to the bar. "At least with her being in the spotlight, it will be easier to see threats as well as make it harder for them to bother her so as not to make a scene. It is also a good opportunity for her to look for more keys, and you can't deny that Lucy deserves this chance to show the world what she is capable of."

"That is true. Lucy is so strong but she always seems to get the short end of the stick for whatever reasons. This could be a good chance to show everyone that Celestial Spirit Mages aren't just weak magic users that hide behind their spirits all the time." Mirajane agrees with a smile as she slides behind the counter once more.

"But Celestial Spirit Mages aren't weak." Levy argues as she walks over to the two talking at the bar. "To summon regular Celestial Spirits takes a lot of magic and summoning the Golden Zodiac Spirits takes an incredible amount of magic. Normal mages could probably only summon one or two during a fight for a few minutes before they reached their limit, but Lucy's keys are almost all gold keys and she summons four or five of them a battle. If she was a more offensive mage like Natsu, she would probably be one of the strongest in our guild just from the amount of magical power she has."

"That is true, but remember that it takes more than just magical power to become a great mage. While I do believe that Lucy is an incredible young mage, she still has a ways to go before she can become an incredible spirit mage. There is still much she needs to learn about herself and her spirits." Makarov informs. Lucy, who is nearby and heard most of the conversation, frowns and looks down at her hip where her keys were hanging. While she is happy that her friends and master are giving her such praises, she has to wonder at what the wizard saint meant when he said she still had much to learn.

_'I know that I'm still average as far as summoners go, but I thought I knew all I needed to know in order to get stronger... I guess I'll have to talk to my spirits later.'_

"Lucy? Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Lucy questions as she is pulled out of her thoughts and glances at Gray in slight confusion.

"I asked if you were alright. I know you're a Celestial Spirit Mage, but you should spend a little less time hanging out with the stars." Gray teases with a small grin.

"Oh, sorry. Yes, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You looked worried about something." Happy questions, abandoning his attempt at giving Carla fish for the moment. The white cat in question sniffs disdainfully and turns her head away from the oblivious blue feline.

"She is obviously worried about what the Master just said over there about her having a lot to learn before she can become a great Celestial Spirit Mage." Carla reveals, not at all surprised that Happy and Natsu are the only ones with superior hearing at the table who hadn't heard the conversation.

"Well, your team is going on a training trip with some of the other teams soon, right?" Pantherlily questions as he crosses his arms over his chest. At Lucy's nod, he smiles reassuringly. "Then use that time to figure out what he was talking about. I know you have at least one intellectual spirit, if not more. Ask them about the knowledge you need and once you know what you are missing, have your other spirits help you obtain it."

"What makes you think she needs her spirits to get stronger?" Natsu interrogates with a glare. Gray sighs at this and shakes his head.

"You idiot. She's a Celestial Spirit Mage, meaning she fights with the aid of beings she summons to help her, it's kinda obvious that she would need her magic in order to become a more powerful mage."

"What was that popsicle princess?!"

"You heard me crazy flame spewer!"

"Natsu. Gray. I hope you two aren't fighting again." Erza threatens with a glower in their direction.

"N-no, of course not!" Gray denies with a nervous laugh.

"Aye sir!" Natsu agrees.

"Oh, look. The return of Happy #2." Lucy sighs and shakes her head as she stands. "Okay guys, I'm going home. There are a few things I'd like to do before the trip tomorrow."

"Would you like one of us to walk with you?" Erza questions as she stands as well.

"Oh, no. Don't worry about it. I'll just summon a spirit to walk with me."

"Wouldn't that just paint a target on your back?" Carla questions worriedly from Wendy's arms as the rest of the table follows Erza's lead and gathers around Lucy. "The only normal looking spirits you have are well known, so if the people hunting down spirit mages saw you walking with one, they would assume correctly that you are a spirit mage."

"I have... hm, I guess you're right. Unless..." Lucy trails off as she looks at her keys and hesitantly takes one of the green keys off of the ring. The former occupants of the Team Natsu table see their friend pull the key out and back up to give her space.

"Open! Gate of the Scholar! Demon Child Nico Robin!"

At the shout and the sound of a ship bell, the guild hall quiets and turns curious eyes towards their blond spirit mage standing amidst a glow of gold, white, blue, and purple lights. As the lights form into the shape of the owl spirit, the majority of the men widen their eyes in shock.

"Hey pretty lady, wanna hang out with us?"

"Holy crap, look at those curves!"

"Who cares if she has wings, she's hot."

"I like the wings. Makes her exotic in a way."

Robin is, like all other aspects in her life, mature and graceful about the comments sent her way. She sends the onlookers a small mysterious smile and wave of her hand that makes her admirers fall over themselves, before focusing her attention on her contractor.

"Hello again, Miss Summoner."

"Hi, Robin." Lucy greets with a smile and wave, inwardly shaking her head at the idiots drooling over the winged woman. "I was wondering if you were able to hide your wings?"

"Oh, do you not like them?" Robin questions as she glances back at her glossy black wings half folded against her back.

"No, I love them! I think they're gorgeous! I'm just in a bad situation right now. My guild doesn't want me to be alone at the moment but I have things I need to do before a training trip my team is going on tomorrow, so I was hoping you could help me out by keeping a look out while I do this? I was wondering if you could hide your wings because it would defeat the purpose of summoning you if it was obvious that you were a celestial spirit."

"The bad situation you speak of, would it be the danger you are placed in by being a Celestial Spirit Mage while there is someone or something making them disappear?" Robin ponders as she glances around the guild hall. The building made her feel comfortable, almost as if she were back on board the Going Merry or the Thousand Sunny.

"Yes, actually. I only need to do a few things, so you won't be here long enough to make you uncomfortable." Lucy informs. Robin turns to Lucy to remind her of the terms of the contract, but at her pleading look and subtle glances at her friends and nakama, the scholar instead smiles and makes her wings disappear with a small flash of purple light.

"Very well, I shall accompany you during your outing. Will we be leaving now?"

"Yes, we will." Lucy affirms as she moves to stand next to the slightly taller woman.

"Lucy, are you sure you will be fine with just her?" Gray asks.

"Of course not! That's why I'm going with her!" Natsu announces stubbornly. Erza reaches out one gauntlet covered hand and grabs the back of Natsu's vest easily as he attempts to join Lucy and Robin.

"You will respect her wishes of doing her business on her own." Erza commands. When Natsu ceases struggling to get out of her iron grip, she shifts her russet gaze to her teammate in slight worry. "I do have to admit that I am still worried. While I believe in your strength, I worry about these people that have been taking out the other Celestial Spirit Mages."

"If it comes to a fight, I have 10 of the 12 Golden Zodiac keys. I'll be fine. Especially if I'm near water. Now that Aquarius is actually worried about me, I don't have to worry about her washing me away with an enemy if I summon her... probably." Lucy assures, doing her best to hide the hesitation that grew from the thought of her aquatic summon's usual behavior.

"Very well. If you are certain that you do not want anyone else to help you, I will respect that." Erza gives in with a sigh. Lucy smiles at this and gives her red haired friend a hug.

"Thank you, Erza."

"You're welcome, Lucy." Erza says with a fond smile and a gentle hug of her own. "Just promise to be careful and call for us if you need any help."

"I will." Lucy promises, then turns back to the patiently waiting Robin. "Okay, let's go."

Once the two women are away from the guild, Robin turns to Lucy with a small frown.

"Are you certain that you shouldn't have had at least one of your friends come with us? Despite the way you made things sound, if someone does mean you harm while I am here, I will not fight for you. I am an intellectual spirit, I give you advice, share information I have with you, and help you obtain information I do not have. I do not fight."

"I know you don't. I thought that whatever ability you use to find information quickly might help spot potential enemies in time to prepare me for a fight. There are things I want to do alone or with the company of one of my spirits and I can't do that with my friends breathing down my neck."

"I suppose you are right." Robin agrees, closing her eyes briefly in order to grow eyes in discreet locations nearby. When the eyes are in place and on the look out for possible enemies, Robin turns her blue eyes to her contractor. "So, where are we going first, Miss Summoner?"

"The Mythic Ankh magic shop. I want to prepare for the training trip tomorrow, and a visit with the Dokarai's might be just what I need."

End Chapter 3

**Songs (Christmas/Winter Edition. :D)**

Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind by John Rutter (Lyrics by Shakespeare)

Hark! The Herald Angel's Sing by Charles Westley

Angels We Have Heard on High (Unknown Creator)

Coventry Carol (Unknown Creator)

Sing We Now of Christmas by Noel Nouvelet

We Three Kings by John Henry Hopkins Jr.

Carol of the Bells by Mykola Leontovych and Peter J. Wilhousky

Ogo Ni Fun Oluwa by Rosaphanye Powell

Wizards in Winter by Trans Siberian Orchestra

Angels From the Realms of Glory by James Montgomery

Choose Something Like A Star by Randall Thompson (Lyrics by Robert Frost)


End file.
